| Oakland Ballers | |||||
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| Class | Independent | ||||
| League | Pioneer League | ||||
| Team data | |||||
| Name | Oakland B's | ||||
| Colors | Green, gold, gray | ||||
| Ballpark | Raimondi Park (4,000) | ||||
Owner(s)/ Operator(s) | Oakland Ballers Baseball Club, Inc. (Paul Freedman & Bryan Carmel, founders) | ||||
| Manager | Aaron Miles | ||||
The Oakland Ballers, nicknamed the Oakland B's, are an independent baseball team that started play in the Pioneer League in 2024.
The team was created following the approval of the Oakland Athletics' relocation to Las Vegas by MLB team owners. The non-profit Oakland 68s raised more than $2 million to establish the team [1] and was inspired by the success of Oakland Roots SC soccer team. [2] The press release for the team's announcement included a pledge for fan ownership based around a 2024 crowdfunding campaign. [2] Don Wakamatsu was appointed as the team's first-ever executive vice president of baseball operations. [3] The first player signed to the team was Dondrei Hubbard, announced on December 10, 2023. [4]
They are located in Oakland, California, and initially planned to play their home games at Laney College, [5] with an expansion of the park's facilities to hold upwards of 2,500 fans. [1] [6] A proposed game at the Oakland Coliseum was blocked by the Oakland Athletics. [7] In February 2024 it was announced that they would instead play their home games at Raimondi Park in West Oakland, with a capacity of 4,000 fans. [8]
On April 10, 2024, Kelsie Whitmore signed with the Oakland Ballers. [9] She became the first woman to play for the Pioneer League when playing for the Ballers later that year. On June 6, 2024, playing for the Ballers, she became the first female player to start a Pioneer League game. In that game she struck out one batter. [10]
On July 21, 2024, the Ballers fired manager Micah Franklin and named Aaron Miles interim manager. [11]
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The Athletics are an American professional baseball team based in West Sacramento, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West Division. The team will play its home games at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento for the 2025–2027 seasons before its permanent move to Las Vegas. While in West Sacramento, the team is being referred to as simply the "Athletics" and "A's", with no city name attached. The franchise's nine World Series championships, fifteen pennants, and seventeen division titles are the second-most in the AL after the New York Yankees.
The Atlantic League of Professional Baseball (ALPB) is a professional independent baseball league based in the United States. It is an official MLB Partner League based in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States. The Atlantic League's corporate headquarters is located at Clipper Magazine Stadium in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
The Pioneer Baseball League is a professional baseball league based in the Western United States. It operates as one of four Major League Baseball (MLB) Partner Leagues in the American independent baseball league system without MLB team affiliations. The league is contested by twelve teams from the Northern California and Rocky Mountains regions, who play a regular season split into two halves. The top two teams at the end of each half qualify for a postseason tournament that determines the overall champion.
The Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum is a multi-purpose stadium in Oakland, California, United States. It is part of the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Complex, with the adjacent Oakland Arena, near Interstate 880. In 2017, the playing surface was dedicated as Rickey Henderson Field in honor of Major League Baseball Hall of Famer and former Athletics left fielder Rickey Henderson.
Aaron Wade Miles is an American former professional baseball second baseman. He played nine seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 2003 to 2011 for the Chicago White Sox, Colorado Rockies, St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cubs, and Los Angeles Dodgers. He also managed the Pittsburg Diamonds of the Pacific Association. In 2024, Miles was named infield and third base coach of the newly formed Oakland Ballers of the Pioneer League. On July 21, 2024, the Ballers fired manager Micah Franklin and named Miles interim manager.
William Alex North is an American former center fielder in Major League Baseball. From 1971 to 1981, he played for the Chicago Cubs (1971–72), Oakland Athletics (1973–78), Los Angeles Dodgers (1978) and San Francisco Giants (1979–81). He was a switch hitter and threw right-handed.
Wilbur Donald Wakamatsu is an American former professional baseball player, scout, coach, and manager. Wakamatsu was drafted in the 11th round of the 1985 Major League Baseball draft by the Cincinnati Reds. He played as a catcher in Major League Baseball for the Chicago White Sox. He served as the bench coach of the Texas Rangers from 2018 through 2021. He was hired as bench coach of the Kansas City Royals for the 2014 season. He was the manager of the Seattle Mariners for the 2009 season, as well as the majority of the 2010 season. He was the Toronto Blue Jays' bench coach for 2011 and 2012, after which he was replaced by DeMarlo Hale. During the 2013 season he worked as a scout for the New York Yankees in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. He is currently the first-ever executive vice president of baseball operations with the Oakland Ballers.
The 1988 Oakland Athletics season was the 88th season for the Oakland Athletics franchise, all as members of the American League, and their 21st season in Oakland. The Athletics won their first American League West title since 1981, with a record of 104 wins and 58 losses. In 1988, the elephant was restored as the symbol of the Athletics and currently adorns the left sleeve of home and road uniforms. The elephant was retired as team mascot in 1963 by then-owner Charles O. Finley in favor of a Missouri mule. The A's defeated the Boston Red Sox in the ALCS, but lost the World Series to the Los Angeles Dodgers in five games, including a dramatic, classic walk-off home run by the Dodgers' Kirk Gibson in game one.
Women have a long history in American baseball and many women's teams have existed over the years. Baseball was played at women's colleges in New York and New England as early as the mid-nineteenth century; teams were formed at Vassar College, Smith College, Wellesley College, and Mount Holyoke College. An African American women's team, the Philadelphia Dolly Vardens, was formed in 1867.
The history of the Athletics Major League Baseball franchise spans the period from 1901 to the present day, having begun as a charter member franchise in the new American League in Philadelphia before moving to Kansas City in 1955 for 13 seasons and then to the San Francisco Bay in Oakland, California, in 1968 for 57 seasons. The team endured numerous attendance issues stemming from the aging Oakland Coliseum before the MLB owners approved the team's application to relocate to Las Vegas, Nevada in 2023. With four locations, the A's have had the most homes of any MLB team.
Liam Johnson Hendriks is an Australian professional baseball closing pitcher for the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Minnesota Twins, Kansas City Royals, Toronto Blue Jays, Oakland Athletics and Chicago White Sox. He has been an All-Star three times and was the American League's Reliever of the Year in 2020 and 2021. His most recent accomplishment is winning the AL MLB Comeback Player of the Year Award for the 2023 season.
Micah Ishanti Franklin is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He played part of one season in Major League Baseball with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1997. Franklin also played in Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan during the 1999 and 2000 seasons, and in the Korea Baseball Organization in 2002 and 2003.
The Oakland Athletics' 2012 season was the organization's 45th in Oakland, California and the 112th in club history. The team finished with a final record of 94–68, claiming first place in the American League West and reaching the postseason for the first time since 2006. After winning their last game of the season, they took sole possession of the West for the first time all year, overtaking the Texas Rangers. The A's had trailed Texas by 13 games on June 30, and had a five-game deficit with nine days left in the season. The 2012 team, which led the league with 15 walk-off wins, managed this with the second-lowest payroll in baseball, at $59.5 million. They lost in five games to the Detroit Tigers in the Divisional Series.
The Sonoma Stompers are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Sonoma, California. They are current members of the California Collegiate League. They began play as members of the Pacific Association of Professional Baseball Clubs in 2014. They are a successor franchise to the defunct Sonoma County Grapes, and were the first professional team to make Sonoma County home since the Sonoma County Crushers ceased play following the 2002 season.
The Portland Pickles are a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat team based in Portland, Oregon. They play in the South Division of the West Coast League, a premier collegiate summer baseball league based in the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia. The Pickles play their home games at Walker Stadium in Portland's Lents Park.
Kelsie Ann-Gamboa Whitmore is an American professional baseball pitcher and outfielder for the Oakland Ballers of the Pioneer League. She was the first woman to appear in the starting lineup in an Atlantic League game. She was a member of the United States women's national baseball team from 2014 to 2019. Whitmore played college softball for the Cal State Fullerton Titans and has also played professionally for the Sonoma Stompers of the Pacific Association and Staten Island FerryHawks of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball.
The Staten Island FerryHawks are an American minor-league professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Staten Island. They are a member of the North Division of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, a "partner league" of Major League Baseball. They play their home games at SIUH Community Park, the former home of the Staten Island Yankees, which is in the St. George neighborhood and overlooks the Manhattan skyline across New York Harbor.
The Oakland Athletics were an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Oakland Athletics competed in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West Division from 1968 until 2024. The team played its home games at the Oakland Coliseum throughout their entire time in Oakland. The franchise's nine World Series championships, fifteen pennants, and seventeen division titles are the second-most in the AL after the New York Yankees. The team is currently known simply as the Athletics.
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